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Quest Means Business
Trump Gets into Shouting Match with Senator Over Iran; Western Europe Swelters Under Record-High Temperatures; President Donald Trump Meets with NATO Chief. President Donald Trump Meets with NATO Chief Mark Rutte at the White House; No Clear Evidence of A.I.-Related Job Market Disruption. Aired 4p-5p ET
Aired June 24, 2026 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:17]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: We see the Dow there eking out a pretty good gain, but it was a mixed day on Wall Street. The NASDAQ gave up
early gains and closed lower and remember, that's after that rout in chipmakers on Tuesday.
Those are the markets and these are the main events: Tensions run high on Capitol Hill as President Trump faces Republicans who voted against him in
a closed door lunch meeting.
Record temperatures across Europe as the heat wave disrupts schools and businesses.
And a group of high profile artists say it should be really simple to license their content to A.I. I will speak with the composer leading that
group.
Live from New York. It is Wednesday, June 24th. I am Paula Newton, in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Good evening.
So some tense moments on Capitol Hill today as President Trump got into a shouting match, apparently with a senator at a luncheon over Iran. Now,
sources tell CNN, the President was furious about the Senate's vote yesterday to limit his war powers.
Senator Bill Cassidy says he raised his voice with the President on the issue. A source says Mr. Trump called the Louisiana Republican a lunatic.
That meeting came just hours after the President stunned lawmakers, remember, on both sides of aisle here when he cancelled the signing of a
highly anticipated bipartisan Housing Affordability Bill.
Kevin Liptak is at The White House.
Kevin, first to this luncheon. We did actually get a lot of details and it is not like either The White House or the senator involved are denying
this. What is behind this? And really, will it lead to anything besides some harsh words?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I think there are two things behind this. One is this boiling tension between the President and
Republicans on the Hill over the war in Iran. You know, they feel like they don't have a good understanding of this Memorandum of Understanding that he
has struck with Tehran. Many of them were opposed to this war to begin with. It has caused prices to rise in the U.S., which equals diminishing
political fortunes for some of these Republicans. That was one aspect of it.
The broader tensions are because President Trump keeps seeming to undermine a number of these Republicans, including Bill Cassidy, by endorsing their
rivals in primaries. And in Bill Cassidy's case, he lost that primary.
This also happened to John Cornyn, the Republican from Texas, and so I think this lunch, you know, it was always going to be tense because of
these roiling tensions beneath the surface between the President and members of his own party. And essentially, what Bill Cassidy said is that
he just could not contain himself in this meeting.
He even acknowledged that he went beyond perhaps what he might have liked to in going after the President. I am told they were shouting at each
other. They were talking over each other. The President really ripping into Cassidy for losing the election, that the President essentially helped him
lose.
But also this question of the Iran War, which Cassidy told the President was a blunder. The President calling out some Republicans for voting for
that War Powers Resolution yesterday.
So all in all, I think this just underscores how bitter things have become between the President and members of his own party on the other side of
Pennsylvania Avenue.
Yes, Kevin, checking out just the body language of the President going in and coming out. Clearly, a very upset Capitol Hill. But we do want to go to
really what was a stunner, that Housing Bill. Prominent Republicans were speaking at a press conference celebrating the bill when they learned of
the President's flip-flop.
And I want to say, it is about affordability, right? I mean, first and foremost, on American's minds right now is how much they are spending every
day just to live, and housing affordability is a big part of that.
LIPTAK: Yes, and the President seems as if he is sort of putting this all off as a secondary concern of his. You know, he said that this bill pales
in comparison to this Voting Reform Act, that he wants the Senate to move on, and what happened today is the President essentially depriving both
himself and Republicans on the Hill of this big set piece moment to show that they are focused on affordability.
You know, this is a concern of Republicans that the President can't really seem to focus very much on this issue. He has been distracted on all manner
of issues, whether it is foreign policy or whether it is all of these projects that he is trying to oversee in Washington. They cannot seem to
direct his attention to the one matter that most Americans say they want him to be focused on.
[16:05:00]
Even yesterday, The White House was out saying that this Housing Bill, which, by the way, passed overwhelmingly in both the House and the Senate,
saying that this was the President keeping his promises that he made to voters as a candidate.
But it turns out he can't quite keep those promises because he refuses to sign this bill as long as this voting rights measure remains pending. What
he has been told repeatedly by Republican leaders in the Senate is that they, in fact, do not have the votes to pass that Voting Reform Bill, but
the President seems sort of consumed by it to the extent that he is stymieing other elements of his own agenda in order to get that passed.
Now, The White House has not even said whether the President will eventually sign this voting bill if it goes ten days, it will become law.
So in theory, he doesn't even have to put pen to paper, it will still become effective. And so I just think it just goes to show how Republicans
are in this battle with the President himself, to try and show that they are focused on this affordability issue, but the President keeps blocking
them at every turn.
NEWTON: Yes, we will wait to see, because the President does seem to be holding parts of his own agenda hostage here.
Kevin Liptak for us at The White House. Appreciate it.
Now, we turn to that heat wave and heat records are being shattered right across Europe as the continent swelters through another day of extreme
temperatures.
Both the U.K. and Spain have now recorded their hottest June day since record keeping began. Now, the same goes for France, which has become the
epicenter of the heat wave. It has been forced to temporarily shut down one of the nuclear power plants, with temperatures there topping 40 degrees
Celsius for a second day. That's about 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
Now, schools and businesses right across Western Europe have now closed, and authorities are urging people to stay indoors and take care if
traveling. Workers and the broader economy are suffering under the heat. Public transportation in London, for example, has been thrown into
disarray.
Our Clare Sebastian reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is one of London's biggest rail hubs, Victoria Station, and you only have to look at the departure boards
inside the station to see just how much the transport network is being affected by the weather. We've seen trains delayed, some even cancelled.
There is a critical Express Train that runs from here to one of London's biggest airports, Gatwick Airport, and as of the middle of the afternoon on
Wednesday, it is currently not running.
So passengers have been advised not to travel unless absolutely necessary, but of course some people have to. We've been speaking to some of those
about how they've had to adapt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going back to Worthing. My little boy had to be off school because he has been sick with heat exhaustion.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been traveling through London and it is like so hot. Like I Ubered to the train station, even though it is like a 15-minute
walk. It has been -- it has been a nightmare.
SEBASTIAN: This isn't just a railway station, this is also a bus station. And conditions on these busses, many of which are not air conditioned, have
been getting pretty difficult.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not prepared for this, not at all. It is like 35 degrees. The AC is not working.
SEBASTIAN: With temperatures like these set to go on for a couple more days, with all of this disruption sending a ripple effect through the
economy, it is a real wake-up call for this city and its decades' old transport system that simply wasn't built for these temperatures.
Clare Sebastian, CNN at Victoria Station in London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: And the head of the World Health Organization says the heat is having a negative effect on people's health. That's particularly true for
those working under sweltering conditions in Europe and beyond.
One recent study highlighted the effect on World Cup workers. Now, it found that workers in hot, humid locations like Houston, Miami and Monterey
frequently encounter heat levels that exceed safety limits. The study recommends that FIFA and host cities adopt measures such as flexible
scheduling, hydration and cooling access, and protocols for workers to adapt to the high heat.
Margaret Morrissey-Basler is an Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at Providence College, and she joins us now from Dallas.
In fact, I do want to turn to the conditions in Europe. They are setting records there. What does adaptation to this warming planet look like in
terms of people keeping safe especially in vulnerable communities. And I know given the studies that you've conducted, there are ways to mitigate
for the worst effects.
MARGARET MORRISSEY-BASLER, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, HEALTH SCIENCES AT PROVIDENCE COLLEGE: Yes, I think having adaptations in this really hot
environment is very difficult, and so I highly recommend that people gradually expose themselves to hot environments, stay cool and hydrated and
check on those that are very vulnerable. Those are the elderly, the pregnant, the postpartum, those with co-morbidities, because they are the
ones who are going to likely have these heat injuries.
NEWTON: When it comes to identifying though who is most vulnerable, it is interesting to me that even, let's say during a sporting event, we have had
incidents, whether its people on the pitch or in the stands or, as you say, working where the heat exhaustion just comes -- kind of comes over them all
at once.
[16:10:15]
I mean, what's at work there and what do organizations actually have to do again to try and avoid the worst effects?
MORRISSEY-BASLER: Yes, so a majority of these problems are occurring because your core temperature gets really high. And so if you're not doing
any of these mitigation strategies and your core temperature continues to rise, that's when you get these signs and symptoms like fatigue,
dehydration, cognitive impairments.
I think that people think that heat is only heat illness, but really, it is so many different things. It is cardiac events. It can lead to kidney
injury.
And so it has so much more impact than most people recognize.
NEWTON: As you were speaking, we are looking at the World Cup Heat Risk Outlook, and it is in the places that you would expect. We have heard of
course about the hydration breaks, but some people say it is just for commercials. But though some of the venues, let's say they are indoor
venues, but what do you think should happen going forward in terms of awareness of the dangers of the heat?
And I know you have things that you believe organizations like FIFA should do specifically.
MORRISSEY-BASLER: Yes, I think that FIFA has this existing human rights platform where they do specifically include, you know, athletes and
spectators and workers. But I think we need to add heat protections within that platform. And I think FIFA needs to have a heat standard where, you
know, especially for workers, since that's where my work is in, to say that if they are working at a certain venue, if they're associated with the
operations of FIFA, they have to abide by certain regulations.
And that can be in host city agreements, that can be in vendor contracts, because we can't just rely on the organizations to protect these workers,
and the same applies for athletes and spectators as well.
NEWTON: So given the heat records that we are seeing, you know, right across the globe, I mean, if the World Cup were happening in Europe, for
instance, right now, you believe that that's why it is crucial that an organization like FIFA have these agreements in place, these safeguards.
MORRISSEY-BASLER: Absolutely. And unfortunately, the heat events that we are seeing are getting worse and worse. Every single summer, we say the
same thing. Record breaking heat wave is happening. And so, it is more now than ever that we need to have these enforcements in place because we can't
just rely on people to, you know, put these mitigation strategies in place. We need to make sure that they are enforced.
And FIFA is, you know, responsible, I think, for having a tournament-wide regulation. I shouldn't even say regulation, but rule where they can
protect people from heat, specifically among other hazards as well.
NEWTON: Yes, and it is crucial because as I say, so many people just don't really understand that they are hitting their limit on the heat before they
obviously run into trouble.
We will have to leave it there. Margaret Morrissey-Basler, thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate it.
MORRISSEY-BASLER: Yes, Thank you.
NEWTON: Now coming up for us, a big win for socialists in capitalism's capital as allies of Mayor Zohran Mamdani sweep in New York primaries.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:15:00]
NEWTON: And we are going live now to Washington, D.C., where U.S. President Donald Trump is hosting NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Let's listen.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: -- of our recent little military skirmish, but he is a man that's respected by
everybody. And, Mark, maybe you'd like to say a few words.
MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: Absolutely. And a few things I want to share with the media and with you being here at present. And it is about
your leadership.
First of all, about Iran. I really want to make clear how important it is, what you are doing on Iran. This is, first of all about the nuclear
capability Iran was basically getting its hands on, its hands on, and that would have been a threat to the region. It would have been a threat to the
whole world.
This is a country which is exporting chaos. It is exporting terrorism. And they were very near to getting their hands on the nuclear capability. You
have seen last week, in the recent G7, all the leaders in the G7 applauding the fact that this nuclear capability has been degraded.
This is extremely important, and I just want to make this clear, because sometimes people think, why was this whole Iran thing going on? This is
about security, about safety. This is the leader of the free world taking responsibility beyond the shores of the United States for the rest of the
world. And this is what you did.
I know there have been debates about whether your allies in Europe were with you or not. I just want to say one thing.
TRUMP: They weren't.
RUTTE: Yes, but let me say one thing, which is I know the thinking, but let me -- and I know about the let's say your -- the irritation about that. But
when you look at the numbers four to five thousand U.S. planes taking off from bases in Europe in the six weeks this war took place, still the
ceasefire took place mid-April.
In Bucharest, the airport in Romania having to close, it had to close for commercial traffic because they had to make sure that you were able to send
a tanker aircraft up in the air. So this is -- I know there have been isolated cases about which you are really disappointed, but generally
speaking, your European allies have been there with you.
I really want to make the point four to five thousand U.S. planes taking off from European air bases. So that's about Iran. Now, I want to take you,
if you stay here, I go over to these boards here because I want to show you what this President was able to achieve.
And I start with this chart. This chart is about the Trump trillion. The Trump trillion shows you the increase Europeans and Canadians are paying
into defense since you took office in 2017. Trump 45 plus Trump 47 -- a total of extra spend by the Europeans and the Canadians of 1.2 trillion.
When you look at the effect of Trump 47, so the isolated effect of the extra defense spending in 2025 and 2026, you see almost $140 billion extra
spend on defense by the Europeans and the Canadians. And also this year, you will again see an increase by about 120 billion, which brings the total
in two years of over $250 billion.
I can assure you. This is because of Russia, because of the threat, but I am also absolutely convinced that you, being President of the United
States, being consistently pushing for something which since Eisenhower has not been achieved, which is the Europeans equalizing their defense spending
with the United States, this is your evidence.
Then, when it comes to jobs, looking at, in total, 195,000 jobs being supported by investments, investments from European companies into the
United States, 83,000 jobs supported by that, 112,000 jobs created by the fact that Europeans are massively, about half of all their defense spending
when it comes to the defense industrial output is spent in the United States, 112,000 jobs.
Last year, they spent $54 billion on U.S. defense industrial output. There is now an order catalogue, an order backlog of $300 billion. So $300
billion of defense spending from Europeans, buying this in the U.S. over the next couple of years, which is already on the order book. Last year,
$54 billion in total. Now order book of $300 billion, totally, almost 200,000, these are real jobs, real people like you had yesterday when you
spoke in Pennsylvania, the people behind you.
But I want to say two things more if you allow me, first of all, to get all of this done, we have to increase the defense industrial output. There is a
big problem. And the problem is that both the United States and Europe, we are not producing enough.
I will talk about after we relaunched because the war in Ukraine and what we do there, and for all the other reasons, you have taken leadership. Last
week, you signed the Defense Procurement Act. You made it possible for companies to work together to be able, therefore, to ramp up their defense
production.
You have been very harsh with them a couple of weeks ago and had one of them over in my office. Yes, it was really harsh. I had one of them over my
office. He was still trembling whilst he was in house and I said, this is good. This is exactly what we need because we need this extra defense
output.
[16:20:06]
This is important for Europe, when I pointed all of these jobs, of course, also many jobs being created in Europe and in Canada. But again, almost
200,000 here in the United States, supported by all of these investments.
But it is about defense industrial output, and this is also what the Ankara Summit has to be about. The whole first day will be about defense
industrial production, because we can spend as much as we want, but we need the interceptors, the missiles, we need the tanks, we need the artificial
intelligence, et cetera, et cetera and this is what you are doing and doing this in the U.S., but also therefore putting all that pressure on the
defense industrial base.
And finally, you had the G7 last week. I think it was a big success. What you've seen there is that, yes, you are President of the United States, but
I want to make this point, for me, you are first of all, the leader of the free world. In two weeks in Ankara, you will have not seven countries, you
will have 42 countries, the 32 allies, U.S. and the other 31, but also nine or 10 other countries from the Middle East, from the Indo-Pacific and they
want to hear your lead.
You will provide it. I know this, this is what you do on Iran. This is what you do in defense industrial output, on spending and all of this.
You being leader of the free world, and now we see it with Ukraine. The fact that Ukraine stays strong in the fight, that you still provide all the
stuff they need, paid for by European and Canadian Allies, fair enough, but very important for them to stay in the fight and all the other things the
United States is doing.
So I am really looking forward to that Summit. I know that Erdogan, the President of Turkey, he looks forward to receiving his good friend, Donald
J. Trump.
But I just wanted to tell this story because, ladies and gentlemen of the American media, this is important. This is your President, but also this is
a free world taking the leadership role as is necessary.
TRUMP: Thank you very much, Mark! Very nice. Thank you very much. Any questions please?
REPORTER: Mr. President, after all this, do you -- you've been so transformative vis-a-vis NATO, and I think the Secretary General just
stated that, you transformed NATO, the likes --
RUTTE: Good questions.
REPORTER: -- which nobody would have even thought that you could have done it. After all of that, do you still think that European allies, like you
told me, treated you badly? And if so, what can they do to make things better? And to you, Secretary Rutte, can you confirm that all the thousands
of flights, as you stated today and yesterday on Fox News, are in compliance with NATO Treaty, sir?
TRUMP: Well, let me just say, he has been a friend of mine. He is a great guy, a great leader, great Secretary General. Everybody respects him.
And I appreciate your nice words, but you really have done a good job. And I think if anybody else were in that position, we wouldn't even be meeting
today, to be honest with you, because we were let down.
We didn't need help on this at all. We demolished them in literally, the first week, but it would have been nice if they would have said, we'd like
to help. We didn't even need it, but it would have been nice if they said that, they didn't say it.
But as Secretary General and he is the boss of the whole operation, he was, I believe if I would have called him and I didn't bother doing that because
I was doing individual countries just to take the temperature and see how they were doing. But I think if I would have called him, he probably would
have found a way to help if we needed, I feel, you know, would have been a little bit different.
But I was disappointed. I was disappointed with Italy. I was disappointed with the U.K. He is now gone. And you know, he had a lot of problems, but
we were disappointed with the U.K. We were disappointed with Germany and France, we were disappointed with most of them. Spain is a horror show.
Spain is terrible even from your standpoint. I mean, they don't want to pay anything. They think they're in for a free ride.
Spain is not a not a good group, not a good group at all. But I have great respect for this man, and so we are going to be discussing what took place
and we will see what happens. Thank you for your question.
RUTTE: Can I answer to your second question --
TRUMP: Yes, please.
REPORTER: Yes.
RUTTE: Because I don't have many disagreements with the President of the United States here. I have slightly because I do agree there is a reason
for disappointment. Absolutely! But my argument is this, these are isolated cases.
When you look at the overall -- take, for example, Germany, from day one, they delivered on their bilateral -- these are bilateral commitments, a bit
of the techniques of this, the technology. But these are bilateral commitments these countries are having with the United States. So this is
not, strictly speaking NATO, bilateral commitments.
They all did what they promised to do and this led to the fourth between four and five thousand U.S. planes taking off from Europe. I would argue it
would have been very difficult to do Iran without having Europe as a power projection platform for the United States, delivered again, he is right.
There is also a reason for disappointment. It is a mixed bag.
TRUMP: Well, the big question is, are they paying the five percent? They agreed six months ago when we were together to pay five percent, and for
the most part, they are not paying.
[16:25:10]
RUTTE: Well, when you look at the numbers, take for example, Germany, so we agreed. They get a couple of years together because you cannot spend it in
one year because you have an absorption problem. But Germany, for example, Germany has doubled -- it is doubling its defense spending between 2021 and
2029. They will spend over $50 billion by 2029, which is staggering more than the French and the Brits combined, even. Take the Dutch, and Poland
and the Baltics already there, countries like Denmark really stepping up and the Nordics. So it is a bit of a mixed bag.
But most of them are doing it, and the alliance is so much stronger because of this man.
REPORTER: Are the sorties in compliance?
TRUMP: Please, yellow dress.
REPORTER: Thank you. Thank you, President, GB News. You mentioned that our Prime Minister has got one foot out the door. The new guys coming in, Andy
Burnham. What do you know about him, Mr. President? And what does he need to do to improve the relationship?
TRUMP: Yes, know about who?
REPORTER: The new incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
TRUMP: I don't know anything. I see that he was, I guess, the mayor of a town. I hear he is extremely liberal, extremely so that means he probably
won't open up the North Sea.
You know, I gave Keir Starmer some pretty good advice. I said, open up the North Sea. Go to Aberdeen, which was the hottest city in the whole -- in
the whole continent. It was the oil city. It was the oil of Europe and they closed everything. It was terrible. I saw it before my eyes and I couldn't
believe it.
The North Sea is loaded. I have had every oil company come to see me. Sir, could you give us access to the U.K.? We would do anything to drill in the
North Sea and they haven't even found what is there.
The amazing thing is they buy their oil from Norway, which gets the oil from the North Sea. Think of it and they pay a big premium. Norway has got
now $2 trillion in the bank and U.K. is dying. So they should open up the North Sea. That's an easy one and a lot of good things are going to happen.
It is among the greatest fields in the world.
PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Mr. President Trump, great night for Democratic Socialist candidates last
night. In the New York primaries, they swept and knocked out two incumbents.
You're from New York. Why do you think it is that now the endorsement of Zohran Mamdani means more than the endorsement of Hakeem Jeffries?
TRUMP: Well, they are going radical left. They are going -- really, when you know, you talk about the Democrat Socialists, you talk really -- it is
really communist. These people -- I watched that woman last night, that's not a socialist. I know socialists, that woman is a communist.
And you know, what they don't say is that I was 16 and oh last night. But mine were a little more boring, a little more mainstream. They were
Republican conservatives. But we were 16 and oh, and if you look over the last two-and-a-half years, were about 347 and just about oh, that's pretty
good, but nobody writes that.
But he picked three, they won. They beat a guy named Dan Goldman who is, you know, a loser. He was one of my prosecutors, one of my many prosecutors
that they used on me. Dan Goldman, not a good prosecutor, fortunately, but he is now looking for a job.
I was very surprised to see because he is a pretty liberal guy. When they go more liberal than Dan Goldman, they are really into Never-Never Land.
DOOCY: Does this tell you that the Democratic Party's 2028 nominee will likely be or could likely be a Democratic Socialist?
TRUMP: Well, it should make it easier for Republicans because most of the nation is composed of sane people. They don't want to -- you know, if you
look throughout history, go back thousands of years. You've always had socialism and communism by different names. It has never, ever worked. It
is not going to work this time, Peter.
Yes, please, go ahead.
REPORTER: Thank you very much, sir. As I talk myself --
TRUMP: Whose phone is that? Don't worry about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another fire alarm.
TRUMP: There is a fire.
REPORTER: I say it myself, I can tell you with great confidence that your presence in Ankara is eagerly anticipated. What's your message to your
great friend Erdogan and the Turkish people? Because you're going to be there in the next few days.
TRUMP: Are you from Turkey?
REPORTER: Yes.
TRUMP: Good! Well, I like him. He is a friend of mine, and he stayed out of the war. You know, he was a prime candidate to go into the war with Iran,
maybe on the Iran side, because he is not a big fan of Israel, as you know. And I asked him to stay out, he stayed out.
And, you know who else was great? Was President Xi of China. He could have come in. He gets half of his oil from that area. You know, I could see him
wanting to and I asked him to please stay out and he did. We did -- we did a good job. But he stayed out.
Erdogan is a great leader, very strong person, great military. And I asked him to stay out, and he did. And so did President Xi. And frankly, so did
Putin, if you really look. But you could say that Vladimir has some other things to focus on.
But they all stayed out. It was pretty, pretty amazing. People were surprised.
[16:30:34]
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Prior to that, Mr. President --
TRUMP: And I think that Erdogan is -- look, he loves Turkey, right? He's doing a great job. He loves Turkey. I love the U.S., but he loves Turkey
and he's doing a great job. He's a respected man, a respected leader, and he's been a friend of mine. Now, I shouldn't say that because guys like
Peter would say, oh, he likes Erdogan. He likes -- now, Peter, Peter, he's good, and some of the others, let's say, but Erdogan is a strong man. But
he's been -- everything I've ever asked him for he's done.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Prior to that, Mr. President. Mr. Secretary General clearly pointed out that allies want to do defense business with you, and
Turkey is definitely one of them. They want to they want the F110 jet engines, and they want the F-35 fighter jets. Are you going to Turkey with
a big gift bag?
TRUMP: I think so, yes, I think so. He's a member of NATO. Some people don't consider him so, but he really he's a -- he's a strong member of
NATO. Yes. I'm going to probably do something that's going to make him very happy.
MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: And Turkey has a huge --
TRUMP: Tell him hello. Tell him hello. He's a good man.
RUTTE: And Turkey has a huge defense industrial base. 3,000 companies working all over the alliance. Also in the United States. So strong
contribution.
TRUMP: People don't know how big Turkey is in terms of the military. It's a very strong -- they have a lot of our equipment. A very strong military.
Because of him. Yes, please.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sir, what are your expectations, sir, about this meeting in Ankara? What do you think -- what are your expectations?
TRUMP: Well, except for the fact that it was being held in Turkey by President Erdogan, I don't think I would have gone to it.
RUTTE: You would have gone for me.
TRUMP: But I might have --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: I mean, I wouldn't have gone for, you know, what we went through over the last two months with, you know, the various countries. But you're
probably right. I would have gone for you, but I would have, I would have not gone for most people. But he called me up, he said, please, I have it
in Turkey. You got to be there. The United States has to be there. And so I'm going out of respect to President Erdogan.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, what do you want the allies to do more than what they are doing right now? Do you have an ask?
TRUMP: Just be loyal. I just want their loyalty. We don't need their money. We don't need anything. We have the most powerful military in the world by
far. But I just want loyalty. You know? We're so loyal to them. We're always fighting for them. We have thousands of troops all over Europe. In
Germany, we have 50,000 troops. And then you want a little -- give us a little nudge, give us a little kiss.
We don't want much. And they say, no, we can't do it. We're paying hundreds of millions of dollars for the troops that we have in Germany. The troops
that we have in U.K., the troops that we have all over, all over Europe. I will say Poland was very good. You know, I endorsed him and he won. By the
way, many people that I endorsed outside of the United States won. You know that, right?
You know, we had a big win yesterday with Colombia? A favorite place of Marco. Marco loves Colombia, but, no, I endorsed a man who was, you know,
the -- anyone, but the same thing in Poland. He was number 10. I endorsed him. I didn't like the man that was the president at all. And I endorsed
him. He was a fighter, a big fighter, a good fighter. And I endorsed him. He came from 10th place and he won.
And they say it was the biggest upset in Europe in 50 years for a major election. And you know what? He's going to be a great president of Poland.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President --
TRUMP: But we have many people. South America, but we just, just the other day, we endorsed somebody that -- El Tigre, they call him El Tigre because
he's tough. He's another fighter. I like fighters I guess. But he won.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President.
TRUMP: And it's great.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You like winners. Do you think President Zelenskyy is winning right now? He famously --
TRUMP: Well, he's doing pretty well. Look, no matter how you look at it, he's doing pretty well. He's holding his own at least. And a lot of people
dying on both sides. But I think he's doing pretty well.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can I ask you --
TRUMP: Look, you have to, you have to say he's courageous. He's got great equipment, but he's got great men. He's got fighters.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can I ask you one other question? Have you seen the report into the Minab school attack, sir? And can you tell us?
TRUMP: I have not seen it, no.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why not?
TRUMP: At some point -- well, I have to wait for it to be completed. I don't know that they're ever going to solve that problem. And you can ask
me, but I don't know that they're ever. They're going to say it was one of our missiles.
[16:35:03]
Pete, I don't know that they're ever going to solve that problem in terms of whose fault was it. Because there were missiles flying all over the
place and it's horrible what happened. But there were missiles flying all over the place. And somebody said it was our missile. Well, maybe it wasn't
our missile, but I've seen nothing to lead me to believe it was. There were plenty of missiles being flown by other people. What do you think, Pete?
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, Mr. President, we've taken the investigation very seriously. And when the appropriate time is right,
whatever that outcome is, that that'll be the time to divulge.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you know what --
TRUMP: I mean, if you come up with the right answer, I don't -- I don't think it's going to be us. I don't think it was us. There were a lot of
missiles being fired at that time. Yes, please?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, you just had a colorful lunch on the Senate -- in the Senate. Would you be open to a compromise measure that had
provisions of the SAVE Act into a reconciliation?
TRUMP: Not really. No. The SAVE Act should be -- a compromise. It's voter I.D., it's proof of citizenship, and it's also the mail-in ballots. We want
mail-in ballots for the military if they're away. We want them for people that are ill or people that are in some form handicapped or have a hard
time, or people even that are on vacation. I'm open to that. But mail-in ballots, you have to vote because we have a lot of rigged elections.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: And then we added in men and women's sports is a no, no. No men in women's sports and no transgender mutilization of our children. These are
99 percent issues. And we have to do it. We have to protect -- look at what's going on in Los Angeles, in California. The vote still hasn't been
counted. What's it, two weeks now? It still hasn't been counted. And I don't know Spencer Pratt, but I watched him and he was doing really nicely.
All of a sudden he's out. And I said he was going to be out because he was doing well. And then a week later they started saying, oh, he's starting to
lose favor. He's starting to lose.
I said, they just rigged the election and they were going to do that with Steve Hilton. He's a good man, and I asked the U.S. attorney to go look at
their votes. And as soon as they did that, they announced that Steve Hilton would be a finalist. So, you know, we have -- we have rigged elections.
Now, in my case, I made it too big to rig. Remember the expression, too big to rig? But we have rigged and we have to have voter I.D. If we don't have
voter I.D. and proof of citizenship, but basically it's the SAVE America Act. Everybody wants it. Everybody is it, including Democrats, 87 percent
of Democrats want it, not the leaders because they want to cheat. Their policy is so bad they're unelectable.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why you came to your desk, sir? Would you be to it?
TRUMP: About what?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: If the housing bill that you didn't sign today.
TRUMP: No, I said I'm not signing the housing bill. I want to see what happens. Look, the housing bill is -- housing, I made billions of dollars
with housing. I know housing better than anybody maybe anywhere. It's all about the interest rate. Lower the interest rates you can have all the
housing you want, but you have to understand, I don't want to -- I don't want to hurt people that own houses, too.
These people for the first time in their lives, they have valuable houses. They become rich. I don't want to hurt them either.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sir --
TRUMP: What you want to do is what good for everyone. Get the interest rates down. We have this numskull that was the head of the Fed before, and
he's a stupid person. And we call him too late because he was too late with the interest rates all the time. We need low interest rates. Low interest
rates will solve everything. We'll solve that.
Now despite that, we're doing well with housing. But where we're really doing well is oil is plummeting and costs are coming down. Affordability,
we're doing great. The Democrats gave us a tremendous affordability problem and we're reducing prices a lot.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A new prime minister will be installed in a matter of weeks. Three or four weeks. Would you want to be the first person on his
list to visit?
TRUMP: No. But I think we're probably of a different persuasion. He's very liberal but, you know, I got along well with Starmer. I disagreed with
Starmer. I said, you have two problems. Immigration and energy, and crime, too, by the way. Crime. You have a terrible mayor of London, by the way. I
don't want to cause any problems, but your mayor of London is grossly incompetent. A bad person and a horrible representative for your country.
You know that. That's why you're smiling and laughing. And it's true.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President --
TRUMP: You know that. The mayor of London is a horror show, but you have a crime problem. You have an immigration problem. The immigration helps cause
the crime, by the way. And you have a tremendous energy problem. You're building stupid windmills all over the country, and they don't do the job.
[16:40:02]
You have the greatest oil field in the world. One of them. It's called the North Sea oil. All you have to do is bid it out to Exxon, Chevron, Shell,
British Petroleum. They're begging to go there and pay billions of dollars. And because the left is so crazy, they don't want the money and the country
is losing. I mean, it's going to go -- your country is going to go bankrupt. Think of it. You have one of these.
Now, most countries don't have that. You have the North Sea oil and you have the best part of it. Think of it. You go to Norway who doesn't have
the best part of it, and you just give them, and they have $2 trillion in the bank. You know, they have $2 trillion, maybe more, because the U.K.
pays them all this money and others. But you have one of the greatest fields. And I told this guy 15 times and he wouldn't do it.
I said, you're going to lose your prime ministership. And he did. In fact, I called it about three days earlier. Right? Remember I said he was
leaving? I wonder if that nudged him out.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, sir, would you block a final Iran deal if it includes any kind of fees on shipping?
TRUMP: Yes. No, it would be unacceptable to me because we have numerous straits that if you did that for them, you'd have to do it for other
people. You have other straits. I wouldn't allow it there either. Yes, it would -- it would be a game changer.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And have you made progress on munitions building in Europe? That's obviously something --
TRUMP: Yes. We always make progress. Some of the countries that he represents are as good as him. He's great. They're lucky they have him.
They're lucky they have that guy.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Behind you.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How do you think that Congress voting to end the war with Iran, even in a non-binding way, impacts your negotiations with Iran?
TRUMP: So we're doing great in our negotiations with Iran. Right in the middle of one of the key things, which we're going to get anyway, we got --
we have breaking news. The Senate has voted that they'd like Trump to stop the war. So Iran sees that and they go, what's that all about? Now, you
know it's meaningless, right? But I had lunch with him. We had four Republican senators and all Democrats.
You know, Democrats, they want to lose the war because they're stupid. That's why we call them Dumocrats. You know? I no longer use the E, I use -
- I've changed the E into a U. We call them Dumocrats. They're dumb. Their policy is so bad. That's why they have to -- they are opposed to the SAVE
America Act because they don't want voter I.D., they don't want proof of citizenship. You know why? Because they have to cheat.
Their policy is so bad that if they don't cheat, they wouldn't win an election. They're phenomenal cheaters and they stick together. But, you
know, the people, the Democrat people are 87 percent in favor of the SAVE America Act.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Yes, please.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Last night, of course, you know, as Peter pointed out, we saw the Mamdani candidates win in Jeffries and Schumer's backyard.
TRUMP: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You told me in October that Schumer was gonzo and that Mamdani was the leader of the party. Does the last night's vote
confirmed that assessment?
TRUMP: I do.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And --
TRUMP: Well, Schumer has lost his way. He's become essentially a Palestinian. I think it's the greatest transformation of a political
position I've ever seen. Chuck Schumer, who was a strong supporter of Israel, and he's become 100 percent Palestinian. In fact, I've asked for a
beautiful, beautiful silk outfit to be sent in the Palestinian tradition. I'm going to send it to him as a birthday present.
Now, it's the greatest transformation of a political ideology I've ever seen. Chuck Schumer is Jewish, and he was a strong supporter of Israel, not
that strong, because he let the Obama, even though he was opposed to it, he let the JCPOA get through. He could have fought that harder with Barack
Hussein Obama. Have you heard of him? So, but Chuck Schumer is a Palestinian now, said, and --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do Democrats have a problem on their hands now that, you know, Obama and Mamdani, their two true leaders, neither of them can
run for president in '28?
TRUMP: Well, you know, Mamdani was here, as you know, twice. And he's a very nice guy. He's a charming guy, good looking guy. We talk, we talk. But
you can't raise taxes on people when you force them to leave your state or your city, and they're leaving and they're going to Florida, most of them
are going down to Palm Beach and Miami. They're just leaving, and they pay 90 percent of your taxes.
[16:45:03]
And I keep wondering, how are you going to do this? Every day you read about somebody that's leaving for Florida, mostly Florida, and other
places, but they're leaving. You can't put a state taxes on that are so high that when a loving father or a mother dies and they leave it to their
beautiful child, the child is supposed to pay 50 percent tax. That's on top of federal tax, right? So basically you're leaving them nothing.
What you're doing is you're just -- I mean, you could be liberal, you could be anything. It's common sense. You're forcing people to leave. And these
are the people that pay the taxes. They pay 90 percent of the taxes. And they're leaving New York and they're leaving California, too.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Yes, please.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you very much, Mr. President. You said yes to the jet engines, but you're a very direct, very straightforward, no
nonsense man as you're known in Turkey as well. What needs to happen for the F-35 deal to be finalized? What do you need to see?
TRUMP: Why don't you answer to that question, J.D.? I want to give you an easy one.
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: OK. Thank you, sir.
TRUMP: That's an easy -- he's done a great job over there, by the way.
VANCE: Well, I know that Pete and the entire team are reviewing this right now because there are certain things that we have to certify happened --
that have happened in order to comply with American law. The president has asked us to do that. We're running the traps and confirming that it's
happened. This is really a congressional thing and ensuring that Turkey has complied with American law so they can get the F-35s. And of course, we'll
announce that when we have that.
TRUMP: We're going to work --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Yes, we're going to work. Look, hey, he's a man who -- he's a little controversial, but I am, too. But I know him. I think he's a very good
person. He's helped us a lot. He's been -- he really, any time I've felt like, as an example, I said, I'd love you to stay out of the war with Iran.
That's a natural for him, right? He stayed out. I like him. A lot of times when they have a problem with him, and when they call me and they say,
would you talk to him? They'll call me. They'll say, could you do me a favor and talk to him?
You have a question in the back? No. Yes. In the back. I love your questions, but you've asked a lot of them. You're very nice. I appreciate
it.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. Earlier today, you instructed your Department of Justice to do an investigation for oil
companies that you said gas prices were not coming down quick enough.
TRUMP: Yes. That's right.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You are concerned that there is price gouging, taking advantage of the crisis. Sir, can you elaborate on that?
TRUMP: So it's ExxonMobil and Chevron. It's Shell. It's BP. It's a lot of them. The gasoline or the oil prices have come down so much. And we are not
seeing anything at the pump by comparison to what it should be. We should be, in my opinion, at $2.25 right now at the pump. And we're higher than
that. And we are doing a big investigation on it. Yes. They're not reducing the prices commensurate with what's happening.
Look, we are sending out, think of it, 19 million barrels came out yesterday. That is a flood. That's like a gusher. That's an oil gusher. And
they should be much lower, the gasoline prices, which really is what people see more than anything else. But, you know, for their car. But gasoline
prices should be much lower at the pump. And the oil companies are possibly gouging. I hope they're not. Otherwise they're going to be in big trouble.
They're going to be in big trouble. We're not going to play games.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, have you spoken to them, sir?
TRUMP: I have. I told them. I told them, don't gouge out people.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, there's a report that you're going to present the World Cup?
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And you have been listening to President Donald Trump at the White House. He is hosting the NATO secretary
general. Wide-ranging conversation, to say the least. We start with NATO, though. And again, the president being very blunt that he was not pleased
that European allies did not really engage at all with his war with Iran. He said he was disappointed.
The NATO secretary general pushing back and saying that 4,000 to 5,000 flights, in fact, left European bases and that NATO and European allies
were, in fact, cooperating. He also had charts. He brought props, and he called it the Trump trillion, saying that he had convinced NATO allies to
spend $1.2 trillion more on defense, and that that would bring 83,000 jobs.
Kevin Liptak is at the White House for us.
I mean, when I say wide-ranging, I mean it. Almost anything that you would see in a headline here, I have to say, the president, you know, again, said
that we have a lot of elections that are rigged in the United States. That is patently false. And he took certainly a swipe at several Democrats as
well.
Kevin, I'll let you take it from here and I'm wondering what stood out to you from this conversation.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. And I mean, I think the point of the meeting, which was Mark Rutte trying to come in and
sort of assuage the president now two weeks ahead of this very critical NATO summit in Turkey.
[16:50:10]
He's certainly living up to his reputation as a Trump flatterer. He brought those charts. He really tried to emphasize to Trump that the European
allies were, in fact, helping out with the Iran war. But it really didn't seem to work. The president saying that he was let down by the fact that
the Europeans didn't participate in the bombing runs, and also saying, I think, quite extraordinarily, that he actually wouldn't be going to the
NATO summit at all unless it was being hosted by the Turkish President Erdogan, which of course it is. And yes, he will be in Ankara in two weeks.
And so for all of the attempts that Mark Rutte is making to try and cultivate Trump and to try and sort of keep him on side, I did not hear
anything from the president there that would suggest that that is working in any way. The other, I think, interesting point that the president
brought up here was the question of this housing bill that we were talking about earlier this hour, that the president has sort shucked away in favor
of this voting rights bill that he's trying to get passed.
The president really downplaying the importance of this bill, which passed with more than 80 votes in the Senate, more than 350 votes in the House on
a bipartisan basis. And the president saying that, in fact, the only way to get housing better in the United States is to bring interest rates down.
Really downplaying this very bipartisan achievement that the White House had spent yesterday really trying to trumpet.
So sort of walking all over those efforts and suggesting that the only way to make housing more affordable was to bring the interest rates down. And
so, you know, if I think you're the president's advisers, if you're Republicans on the Hill or if you're Mark Rutte listening to this meeting,
I don't think you're hearing a whole lot that you want to be hearing from the president, but nonetheless, he's still going on in here almost for an
hour talking about all manner of topics, just shows you where the president's head is at, at this very busy point.
NEWTON: Yes. Interesting. And as we we're speaking before, he basically had a temper behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, didn't really speak too much,
but seems to be speaking on all topics right now. We'll continue to monitor it.
Kevin Liptak, grateful to you. Appreciate it.
Now, U.S. markets finished mixed today as chip makers continue to weigh on Wall Street. The Dow Jones gained, though, 182 points. The S&P 500 and
Nasdaq, as you see, they are both in the red. Chip stocks sold off about midway through the session. Nvidia and Intel each down about half a
percent.
And it comes as a report from the Yale Budget Lab finds, I'm going to repeat this, no clear evidence, no clear evidence of labor market
disruption from A.I.. The report looked at churn across occupations and found A.I. exposure among the unemployed is flat. It says the rate follows
pre-A.I. trends and falls within historical ranges.
Since last October, many companies have cut jobs as they focus on A.I. investment and restructuring, including Amazon, Cisco and Salesforce.
Martha Gimbel is the co-founder and executive director of the Budget Lab, and we're glad to have you here. Thanks for sticking around as we waded
through that press conference from president.
As you see, though, there are lots of companies, we've heard it. We've covered it here on the show, cutting their workforces as they become more
A.I. focused. You're seeing something there that really indicates there is not going to be a severe disruption. What explains that? It is only because
it's looking in the rear view mirror? Do you expect more to come?
MARTHA GIMBEL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE BUDGET LAB: Yes. I mean, I do think it's important to say that this is backward looking analysis. This is not a
prediction about where we're going to be in a year, five years, 10 years. And so much of that is going to depend on non-technological factors like,
how fast companies figure this technology out? Do they get certainty on liability questions, things like that?
I do want to follow up on, you know, you mentioned companies that have said that they are cutting jobs due to A.I.. And one of the things I think is
really important there is that they have largely said that they're cutting jobs to make more capital investments in A.I., which is different than we
can replace our workforces with A.I. and don't need to use them anymore.
NEWTON: And that goes to the issue of productivity, right, and when will we see those gains. Top of mind, though, for so many is, you know, what we
heard out of the New York Fed. That data says that unemployment rates for recent college graduates has been upwards of 5.5 percent. And that's just
over the last few months. The timing certainly aligns with all of these A.I. headlines that we were getting.
Is there any evidence there that entry level jobs, though are being cut?
GIMBEL: Yes, it really doesn't look like A.I. is impacting entry level jobs at this time. You know, there's evidence, for instance, from the Economic
Innovation Group that the labor market is bad for young workers, but for both those with a college degree and without, which suggests that whatever
is going on is not A.I..
[16:55:07]
I think what makes it particularly hard is, frankly, economists don't have a good explanation for what's happening with young workers right now. We've
ruled a bunch of things out, but we haven't explained it. And so, you know, I graduated in 2009 and that was a bad labor market. But I knew why. And so
I think it's very frustrating for young people where there isn't an explanation for why it's harder to find a job than it used to be.
NEWTON: Yes. And as you said, there's no one that seems to be able to pull the curtain back from that. And the indication is really in the fact that
when you look at the statistics themselves, I mean, even Kevin Warsh was really signaling that the data may not be all it's cracked up to be. And
we'll see what the Fed can do about that going forward.
I am wondering, though, when -- and I know you hate to make predictions here, but when you look at what is happening and what you guys study, do
you believe we are in for a disruption one way or the other?
GIMBEL: I think we're almost certainly going to see technological displacement due to this technology. The question is how fast and how
broad. I think one of the things that people like me really worry about is that, frankly, we in this country and in many countries are not good at
handling that kind of disruption. We don't have a particularly robust social safety net. We're not good at retraining.
And so, you know, who knows what this will end up looking like. But no matter what, I think the transition is going to be very difficult.
NEWTON: Yes. And as you said, there is still no plan to deal with that. I only have about a minute left, but I do want to point out that you wrote an
article recently on how government spending has been driving up borrowing costs for Americans throughout the last decade. I mean, music to my ears.
I've been arguing this for a long time in terms of debts and deficits in the U.S., but you are the expert.
How do you see it, and how much does that really impact affordability for the Americans?
GIMBEL: Yes. So one of the things that we calculated here is that Congress's actions on the deficit since 2015 mean that people are paying
basically the equivalent of an additional mortgage payment every year because of that increase in interest costs. You know, that's the kind of
thing that's pernicious. It's hidden. There's not a line on your mortgage statement that says this amount due to Congress's actions. And so I think
it's hard for people to see it directly, but it's affecting all of us.
NEWTON: Yes, it's affecting everyone. And I do know we just had that extended press conference in the Oval Office with the president. And even
though the new Fed chair may need to be more hawkish, it doesn't look like interest rates as much as the president wants them to decrease, are going
to decrease anytime soon.
Martha Gimbel, we have to leave it there. Again, we'll have you back on, though. We learned a lot. Really appreciate you being so patient.
GIMBEL: Thank you for having me.
NEWTON: And that is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'm Paula Newton. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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